Method of coating wire fabric



July 13 1926. 1,592,206

- N. s. HARTER METHOD 0F'` COATING WIRE FABRIC Filed Sept. 29, 1923 2Sheets-Sheet 1 July 13,1926.

1,592,206 N. s. HAR'rx-:R METHOD o-FfcoATING WIRE FABRIC C 4 Filed sept.29, 1925 sheets-shea 2- Y necting them. l

, 'Patented "Jilf'y 13.1926'.

` UNITED "PATENT- OFFICE.

Nona s. marsa or' WAUKEGAN, ILLINoIs, Assmann?. ro cYcLoNn FENCE con#ILLINOIS, A conromTIoNor ILLINOIS.

PANY, or WAIIKEGAN,

Martien 'or comme wmE'ra-Bnrc.

Application f ledfSptember 29, 1923. ASerial-No.y 666,606.

This vinvention relates to'.` a. method of V'coating wire fabric. A y

One of the 'objects of the invention is to improve means 'and mode ofVprocedure to uniformly and to. 'smoothly coat wire fence l fabricin'which transversely extending members or pickets thereof are looselyjoined tof gether and which-may be moved out -of actual contact witheachother. without disconprovide means for` Another4r object is toremovlng excessive coating jmaterlal from f thefabric 'as it leaves thebath and castingsaid excess material back into the bath. Another objectis to provide a new mode vof .procedure v.for separating the links ofthe adjacent pickets, by changing their rel'- ative speed of movement,after they leave the bath, to separate the contacting parts 2 0 of thepickets.

)Another object is to provide means for moving the fabric -at auniformly lower speed after it leavesthe bath suflicient to separate theparts and not sulicient to bring them again into contact before thecovering or coating is set by drying or cooling.

Other objects and advantages will here` inafter appear from aconsideration of the following description, when taken in 'conjunctionwith the drawings, wherein :e-

" Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a machine. l f

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig.- isan enlarged plan view.. of afrag ment of a fabric as it appears immediately after receiving thecoating. Fig. lis an enlarged section taken on line 4-'-4 of Fig. 1.

In all of the views the same reference 60 characters are employed toindicate correspending parts. i

' rIhe invention will be explained with respect to its use for coatingfencing of the type known as chain fabric in which a sea ries koftransversely extending picket memi 4bers are loosely joined together byinterconnection of their mesh wires.

f These picket members are loosely con` l2 nected and independentlymovable, to a limted extent, but not disconnected.. When japan or agalvanizing vcoating withpaint, coating it is desirable to maintain themout of contact to insure a smooth and uniform coating. Y

invention may In my copending application Ser. No. led June 22, 1923,'now Patent Number 1,489,076,l I have disclosed aineans whereby thepickets of the fabric are positivelyheld lout'of contact with each otheruntil the coating sets or dries. In the presentapplication the picketsare separated by change of speed of movement at the time when thechangetakes place.

In any event the sheet or strip of reticulate fabric is submerged in asuitable bath of coating material, such as heated spelter, forgalvanizing, a paintlike coating, or a suitable varnish or paint whilevcontinuously movin and after being submerged it is suitab y vibrated toshake o' the excess of coating into the bath fand allowed to cool andharden before being rewoundinto a ro'll for storage or shipment.

' In the drawings I have illustrated scheor a japanning solution for'roV matically a machine by means of which my be carried into effect.The machine is generally indicated by 10 in which a roll llof uncoatedfabric, to be coated, is mounted on a serles of rollers 12 and 13supported on a-suitable 4pedestal 14. A tub or kettlel contains thecoating material, which maybe molten spelter when the fabric is to'begalvanized. The spelter '16er other coating material may be heated inthe'kettle by any suitable means.

Located in the kettle and secured to an angle bar 17 are a vseries ofJ-shape fabric guide bars 18 and secured to an angle bar 19 is adividing plate 20.

. The fabric 11 is locatedin the kettleibetween the sides and bottomthereof 'and the f' guide bars 18. The guide bars prevent the fabricfrom rising inthe bath out of'conn tact with the coating material.

Any suitable means may be employed for driving the machine. The powermay be applied to the driving pulley 21 which is secured to `shaft 23. Asprocketwheel 24 on shaft 23 drives shaft 26 thru the sprocket chain 27and the sprocket wheel 28 on shaft A shaft 29 mounted above theouter-edge of the kettle is driven at the same speed as shaft 26 from asprocket wheel on shaft 26 Ly chain 30, which passes about sprocketwheel 31 on shaft 29.

A series of fabric-moving sprocket wheels 32 are mounted on shaft 29.These sprocket wheels have sprockets properly spaced to engage meshopenings of the fabric to move it into the tub.

-Similar sprocket wheels 33 are mounted on shaft 26 to pull the fabricout of the bath at the same speed at which it was moved into the bath bysprocket wheels 32.

The fabric after leaving sprocket wheels 33 is received on a smoothinclined table 34, the inclination of which may beadjusted by hand wheel35 which is mounted on shaft 43G and which carries a miter gear pinion37 that is in mesh with the miter gear 38. The gear 38 has a centralthreaded bore to raise and lower the screw threaded shaft 39, pivotallyconnected to the table 34 and 39. By this means the inclination of thetable 34 may conveniently be adjusted.

lVhen the fabric is being raised from the bath, an excessive amount ofthe coating liquid is liable to adhere to it and form stalactites orwhiskers which is objectionable. To avoid this effect I provide meansfor automatically striking the fabric a smart blow at regular intervals.

To this end I provide a rod 44 extending across the fabric and sup ortedon swingingr arms 45, pivoted to the rame46 at 47. three-arm bracket 48is pivoted to the frame 46 at 49. Arm 50 is connected to the rod 44. Arm5l is connected to a coil spring 52 which is secured to the frame 46, at53, and yieldingly holdsthe bracket in position shown in full lines in,5. Arm 54 is normally in the path of the projections 55 carried by thewheel 56 and which is fixed on the shaft 26.

lVhen a lug 55 strikes the arm 49 it moves the bracketA into dotted lineposition against the'stress of the spring 52 with the rod 44 retracted.lVhen the lug 55 releases the arm 54 the spring causes the rod 44 tomove forward at high speed and strike the fabric l1 a sharp blow, movingthe fabric temporarily as shown by dotted lines at 57. The impact of therod with the fabric causes the excess of coating material to becomedislodged from the fabric and fall back into the kettle.

The means for jarring the fabric to remove the excessive coatingmaterial is carried by the same support which carries thc front end ofthe table and its sudden movement also jars the table 34 and causes thefabric to move slowly down the table at a slower speed than that atwhich it was being moved in the passage thru thel coating bath. Theresult is that the pickets 40 become separated to an irregular degree,as shown in F ig. 1.

The inclination of the table 34 may be adjusted in the manner disclosedto any suitable degree to vary the effect of gravity upon the fabric inits movement down the table.

Any suitable artificial means may be employed for drying the fabric, asit slides gown thevtable, or after it leaves the coating ati.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. The method of coating metal fabric having loosely connected.independently movable members which includes moving theI fabric througha coating bath; delivering the fabric on an inclined support, theinclination of the support being such as to cause the fabric to movetherefrom by effect of gravity at a speed to Separate said members.

2. The method of coating metal fabric having loosely connectedindependently movable members which includes moving the fabric through acoating bath; delivering the fabric on an inclined su port; jarring thefabric and support an adjusting the inclination of the support to cause.the fabric to move therefrom at a speed to separate said members.

In testimony whereof I hereunto subscribed my name.

NOAH S. HARTER.

